Sunday, December 14, 2014

Bean Box

A lot of coffee subscription services serve up a different coffee from all over the nation, but few target one specific area or city. Yet that's exactly what Bean Box does, serving up 4 coffees roasted only in Seattle to their constituents. Using 2 oz bags, I received the following coffee in my shipment: Kuma Coffee's Guatemala La Esperanza, Herkimer Coffee's Drip Blend, Long Shoreman's Daughter Ethiopian Yirgacheffe (FTO) and Lighthouse Roasters Roaster's Choice. Each of these coffees I sampled via pourover and since the sample size was so small, I really could not issue a definitive rating on the coffees, and hence the below are simply the tasting notes.

Starting dark and moving lighter, first up was Lighthouse Roasters and their Roaster's Choice, a "full-bodied blend of Ethiopian, Sumatran and Latin high-grown Arabicas." The beans were dark black and covered in shiny oil, with the brew smacking of bakers chocolate, ground pepper, cloves and pear. A coffee with some decent flavors but the extreme darkness of these beans produced a lot of peppery and smoky qualities that overran the cup.

The next cup was Longshoreman's Daughter with their Ethiopian Yirgacheffe. This coffee resonated chocolate, buttered cracker, pepper, light apple, anise and slight ginger. A medium bodied coffee with a lot of nice notes, though still overshadowed by the darkness of the roast.

The Herkimer Drip Blend was a coffee I have had before in a trip to Seattle's Porchlight Coffee, a coffee that while lighter than the prior two coffees, still self-admittedly leans to a darker profile. The coffee proved similar to my last experience at Porchlight, with nice notes of wheat and nuts, but a definite tobacco flavor on the back end.

The final coffee was Kuma's Guatemala La Esperanza, a great coffee ringing from a region that has had a wonderful year in my opinion. This coffee definitely won out as my favorite, with wondrously flavorful notes of sweet chocolate, pitted fruits and an even sweetness that made the coffee extravagant.

In finishing these coffees, it struck me that Bean Box's style of sending out four very different coffees would be great for giving folks a foretaste of the different styles of coffee roasting in Seattle, maybe something to give someone new to tasting and profiling coffees. Hence, if you're looking for a coffee subscription that spans the roasting spectrum, give Bean Box a whirl.

note: coffee was provided free of charge and the above review is objective feedback.